TWO nurses at Fairfield Hospital have been heralded for setting up a new service to aid patient recovery.

Alison Pearsall and Maureen Donohoe received national recognition in the Nursing Standard Magazine Nurse 2002 Awards.

They will now go on to compete against other regional finalists for the overall award, which will be announced in October.

Alison, who lives in Holcombe Brook and Maureen from Shaw in Oldham won the mental health category for their work at the mental health liaison/crisis service at the Rochdale Old Road hospital. Together the two set about improving the quality of care for service users and families by providing a nurse led liaison/crisis service.

Before the service was set up, many patients were discharged from the hospital particularly from accident and emergency without any form of support, for example following an overdose.

Now, after negotiations with a range of professionals , a mental health service is provided seven days a week between 9am and 10pm, and access to specialists from different areas including those trained to deal with domestic violence and substance misuse.

Commenting on their work, a judge on the awards panel said: "It's the most comprehensive A&E service I have ever seen. They are putting together an excellent service developing a leading edge service against the odds."

Maureen and Alison will jointly receive a prize of £1,000 and special certificate at a gala dinner on October 30 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. The overall winner of the Nursing Standard Nurse 2002 Award will also be announced.

The awards, which are now in their 15th year, were established to recognise the efforts of ordinary nurses who improve standards of patient care and have this year attracted hundreds of entries nationwide.